The Oskaloosa High boys’ basketball team begins defense of its Class 3A State Championship Tuesday night (12/3), when the Indians play at Fairfield.  Oskaloosa Coach Ryan Parker says it will be tough to replace the three graduated starters from last year: Cole Henry, Rian Yates and Austin Hafner.

“When you lose players like Rian and Cole and Austin, those are hard pieces to fill.  I think, though, throughout the years, what you learn from being a high school coach is you’re going to have peaks and valleys.  You’ve got to replace great players with other good players, too. We’ve got kids, a kid by the name of Colton Butler, who has practiced against our varsity for the last two years.  He’s gone against Cole and Xavier (Foster) every day in practice, maybe hasn’t seen a ton of varsity minutes, but has seen really good practice time against two high level players.”

The Indians do return senior center Xavier Foster.  The Iowa State commit is Oskaloosa’s all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots going into his senior year.  You can hear the Indians at Fairfield Tuesday night on KBOE-FM and the No Coast Network with the boys’ game to start around 7:45.

Also on Tuesday, the Oskaloosa girls play at Fairfield.  The Indians are looking for back to back wins after last Tuesday’s (11/26) season-opening victory at Centerville.  Coverage of Oskaloosa High basketball on KBOE-FM and the No Coast Network starts at 6, with the girls’ game at 6:15 and again, the boys’ game around 7:45.